Preparation: The Neapolitan Pastiera

• Start with the shortcrust pastry. In a bowl or in your stand mixer, add the flour and sugar, then add the lard and begin to mix.

• As soon as you obtain a sandy mixture, add the egg yolks and continue to work the dough. When it is uniform, transfer it to a work surface.

  

• Compact it and wrap it in cling film and let it rest for about an hour in the refrigerator.

  

• Prepare the wheat (grano). Pour the milk into a small saucepan, add the precooked wheat, the lard and the grated lemon zest.

• Turn on the heat and, stirring often, cook for about 20 minutes over medium heat until you obtain a creamy mixture, then let it cool.

• Only when it is well cold start preparing the filling. In a bowl, sift the ricotta.

  

• Add the sugar and mix with a whisk or a spatula.

  Then add the eggs and the cooled wheat, the seeds from the vanilla pod and the candied fruit cubes, a pinch of cinnamon and the orange blossom water.

  

• At this point mix everything to combine all the ingredients and proceed to assemble the pastiera.

  

• 1)

  Grease with lard and flour a 10 1/4 in aluminum pastiera pan. Then take the shortcrust pastry, place it on a sheet of parchment paper and begin to roll it out with the rolling pin….

  

• 2)

  until you obtain a thickness of about 1/4 inch. At this point, with the help of the parchment paper, transfer it into the pan and use your hands to make it adhere well to the entire surface.

  

• 3)

  Then remove the excess dough with a small knife and knead it again; it will be used to make the strips.

  

• 4)

  Now you can pour the filling into the shortcrust and level it, then roll out the remaining pastry to about 1/4 inch thickness and make strips about 5/8 inch wide with a pastry wheel.

  

• 5)

  Place them on the pastiera crossing them over each other, aligning the ends with the edges of the pan.

  

• 6)

  Bake in a preheated static oven at 356°F for about 80 minutes, taking care to move the pastiera to the lowest rack for the last 20 minutes of baking.

  If the strips start to darken too much, cover the pastiera with a sheet of aluminum foil.

  

• 7)

  When the pastiera is baked, let it cool completely. Then you can dust it with powdered sugar according to your taste.

  Here is the Neapolitan Pastiera ready

  

• Place the sugar, lemon zest and vanilla seeds in the bowl and pulverize: 10 sec./speed 10. Scrape down with the spatula.

  Pulverize again: 10 sec./speed 10. Scrape down with the spatula.

  

• Add the egg, egg yolks, lard, all-purpose flour and salt, mix: 30 sec./speed 5.

  Transfer the dough to the work surface, compact it with your hands into a smooth ball and wrap it in cling film.

  

• Place in the refrigerator and proceed with the recipe.

• In a clean, dry bowl place the ricotta and sugar, mix: 30 sec./speed 4. Transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film touching the surface and refrigerate for 12 hours.

  

• In the clean bowl put the cooked wheat, butter, milk, orange blossom water, orange and lemon zest, cook: 20 min./176°F/antiorario/vel. 1.

  

• Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover with cling film.

  

• Place in the bowl the sweetened ricotta, the eggs, egg yolks and candied fruit, mix: 1 min./antiorario/speed 4.

• Add the flavored wheat, mix: 1 min./antiorario/speed 3. Let it rest in the bowl until needed.

  

• To finish

  Preheat the oven to 302°F in static mode. Butter and flour a round aluminum pastiera pan (Ø 10 1/4 in).

  From here you can follow the instructions above at points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

  

• You have thus prepared Rita Amordicucina’s Neapolitan Pastiera using the Thermomix procedure.